Chapter 1: Drinks and Grimm Don't Mix
"You know Professor, I know you tend to not have the soundest ideas, but this is one I would say borders on insane." The boy told the older man, crouched on a lower hanging branch in a tree.
"It's certainly not insane." The man told the boy, hefting his large sword over his shoulder as he looked down below at their target. "Not when we have the patience to wait for the right opportunity."
"To what, jump on a Death Stalker and kill it before its buddies know we're here?" The boy said sarcastically, resting his hand on the handle of his own sword, still sheathed on his hip.
"Well isn't it common sense to kill the biggest Grimm around before dealing with the small fry, my apprentice?" He looked down below them at the scorpion-like Grimm below them and took his sword off his shoulder, ready to drop onto the beast.
"Yes, Professor Qrow." The student said with a sigh of resignation before waving a hand to gesture to the professor to go first.
Qrow dropped down a moment later, his sword coming down in a vicious slashing arc as it decapitated the Grimm's chittering head from the rest of its carapace.
The other male gave a whistle of admiration before jumping down after him, landing in the remains of the Death Stalker as it was already vanishing in a wave of black ash.
"Now then, Mr. Kuribayashi, I want you to deal with everything else." Qrow told him with a smile.
"And what do you intend to do while I fight the remaining Grimm?" The boy questioned, already looking around them as he heard some of the monsters running and stomping through the brush towards their position.
The teacher gave a chuckle before he pulled out a metal flask from under his coat and said "Me? I'll just have a drink against the tree over there while you do the heavy lifting, Geoffrey."
Geoffrey shook his head at his teacher, already turning his gaze on a Beowolf that made it out of the treeline and making a beeline for him.
"Typical." The boy muttered to himself before he spread his feet shoulder width apart, his left hand resting on the handle of his katana, waiting until the Grimm was almost upon him before drawing it in a smooth, forward arc, the blade slicing through the middle of the Beowolf's head, from its open maw to the back of its skull, the beast crashing in a heap behind the boy as he pivoted around, glancing at his work for a moment before looking for his next target.
"Your iajutsu is marvelous as always." Qrow commented dryly as he took a swig of his alcohol. "But most fights against the Grimm don't end in one move."
To prove the man's point, four more Beowolves came into the clearing next, all of them hungry for blood as they ran towards Geoffrey again.
One of them made a swipe at the boy, intent on slashing him open, only for him to bring his sword up and block the blow, the long blade stopping the claws mere inches from his body as he twisted the blade and cut the Grimm's hand off, rolling forward to avoid getting pounced on by yet another Beowolf and spinning around in time to parry another's jaws from taking his head off.
"Your defensive skills are good, but you still don't take the offensive at the beginning of a fight." Qrow critiqued. "Aggression is necessary to defeat Grimm in battle, Geoffrey."
Ignoring the jibe, he grabbed the saya (scabbard) of his weapon, using his right hand to pull it out of the loop attached to his hip and slammed it into the Beowolf's face, the hard metal with steel reinforced inserts leaving parts of its face caved in as he followed up with a stab, the blade going through the Grimm's upper jaw and out the back of its skull before Geoffrey withdrew the weapon and pivoted to the side, blocking yet another blow from the fourth Beowolf.
Parrying a strike from one of its paws he caught its jaws with his saya, twisting enough to get alongside the Beowolf's face and bringing his weapon down in a slash, decapitating the beast before he rolled to the side, barely avoiding getting hit by the now one-pawed Beowolf from earlier.
"Better, but still needs some refinement." Qrow said, taking another swig of alcohol.
Geoffrey took a deep breath to calm himself down a little as he parried a strike with his saya before sliding under the one-pawed creature and slashing his katana down the length of its chest, gutting him before swinging his legs to the side, giving him the room necessary to cut off one of the beast's hind legs, rolling away to avoid the Beowolf as it collapsed in a howling heap before he got to his feet slowly.
Looking around him, he failed to notice the last Beowolf as it slashed his back, the blow sending the boy stumbling forward a few paces, though unsurprisingly none the worse for wear as he snarled and turned around, mercilessly striking the Beowolf with a series of cuts and slashes until it died from the sheer ferocity of the strikes, enough red lines across its body to make the wolf more red than black in its final moments.
"Be thankful your aura saved you there, or else any normal being would be dead now." Qrow warned humorously, too busy drinking to look like he was paying close attention. "But your aggression is getting better, it just needs some fine tuning."
Looking around for more targets, Geoffrey gave a smirk as an Ursa lumbered into the clearing, and he charged at it, his blade to his side as he closed the distance. The Ursa slashed at him with one of its large paws, but the student had aimed himself past the Grimm and came up on its right side, his blade leaving a long line of red as it cuts into its hide before he grabbed one of its bony spurs and swung onto its back, almost like he intended to ride it, that is until he slid his saya back into its loop as he landed on the beast and used both his hands to bring the weapon down into the creature's neck in a downwards stab, before pulling it to the side, the blade ripping itself out the side of the Ursa's neck before Geoffrey rolled off the beast, sheathing his blade as it faded away from existence.
Walking over to Qrow, the student took his flask from him and said "Give me some of that." before taking a swig of the drink himself.
Barely withholding a cough, he added "That's some strong stuff" before passing the flask back to his teacher.
"Of course, Signal Whiskey is something I brew myself." Qrow said with one of his signature smirks.
Taking a bit more of a serious tone, he said "You did good out there, better than most of the other students in your class at Signal. I'd daresay you'd make a top tier Hunter if it weren't for the fact that you have trouble sticking with just one team."
"Hey, it's not my fault I can't find a team I'm willing to stick with." The boy said with a shrug, hoping his mentor wouldn't bring up an old subject once more.
"True, but that also means you'll never find that dynamic in a group where everyone knows what the others going to do in a battle before they even say anything. That is a truly remarkable team. And in our world, a team of Hunters and Huntresses will go alot further than any individual." Qrow lectured him, pointing the now empty flask at him for emphasis.
Giving a sigh, the man said "You've been my apprentice for what, going on two years now, Geoffrey?"
Thinking it over for a moment, the young man nodded his head in the affirmative as he said "Yeah, should be two years after this week's over."
Nodding sagely, his teacher said "Then I have an offer for you that I hope you would consider."
Raising an eyebrow, the boy leaned against the tree next to Qrow, looking up at him as he asked "What's the offer?"
Qrow stabbed his sword into the ground and leaned back against the tree as well, collecting his thoughts before speaking.
"Both of my nieces are going to enter Beacon Academy this coming school year. You already know one of them as a student here, a Miss Ruby Rose. You know her, right?"
"Well who doesn't know her at Signal?" was Geoffrey's reply. "She's the only person here who uses a scythe for a weapon, besides you of course. That and she is near the top of her class when it comes to combat training, so of course I would know of her. Can't say I've met her in person though."
"Well she just got accepted into Beacon yesterday, and now we only have one slot left from Signal to give to someone to transfer to Beacon." Qrow told him, turning to look at him.
"So you want me to go to Beacon then?" Geoffrey asked him, curious. "Why?"
Qrow gave a sigh before he gave the student an answer. "The staff here are great, don't get me wrong, but other than myself I don't think you're going to improve anymore here at Signal. I know many of the people at Beacon, including their Headmaster, and I know your potential would be much better received there than here. Second, I'm hoping once you get to Beacon you might just be able to find a team you can actually stick with rather than wander from team to team."
Geoffrey gave a dry chuckle at that, though the humor didn't reach his eyes as he said "Well, I didn't earn my nickname the ronin for nothing, Professor."
"True, but you can't stay beholden to only yourself forever." Qrow said with a worn smile. "It gets old fast. Believe it from someone who's had enough experience with that to last a lifetime."
Geoffrey nodded in understanding at his teacher's words of wisdom, not particularly happy to accept them, as he asked "There's more to it that that, isn't there?"
Qrow finally gave a bout of laughter as he said "Well kid, you're definitely sharper than I give you credit for. Yes, I kinda am a selfish bastard for asking you to go. You see, I trust my nieces, they can handle themselves in a fight, and I trust them to stay out of trouble. But I know I can't be there to help them if they do get into trouble, so I was wondering if you could keep an eye on them."
Geoffrey was about to protest and say he wasn't a babysitter before Qrow raised his hands and continued.
"Let me explain. I don't expect you to keep an eye on them around the clock, or try and get buddy buddy with them over me. I just want you to make sure that if trouble comes a knocking at Beacon for whatever reason you're there to make sure they don't get killed."
The dark explanation was enough to have Geoffrey raise an eyebrow and ask "You're not serious, are you? The kingdoms have gotten safer for the past few generations, and whoever would even think of attacking one of the academies would need to be suicidal, if not insane."
Qrow gave him a serious look as he rested a hand on his shoulder and responded quietly. "Geoffrey, I have seen many things happen in my life, dark things, terrible things. I pray that they never happen again, but that's why I want you at Beacon, so if anything does happen, I know someone's there to help that wont see it as a distraction to keep an eye on my nieces."
Sighing, Geoffrey looked down for a moment before looking Qrow in the eye. "You really care for them, don't you?"
"They're my family. I'd give my life for them, just as I would give my life for my last team and you." Qrow said seriously, before letting his hand drop from his shoulder.
Taking a step back, he asked "So will you do it?"
Shaking his head, Geoffrey finally said after a few moments of silence "Thank you for teaching me for this long, Professor Qrow, but I guess I'm going to be a Beacon student now."
That brought a large smile on Qrow's face, before he put an arm around Geoffrey's shoulders and said "Wonderful! Now let's celebrate the occasion by going to one of my favorite bars and getting our asses drunk!"
Giving a sigh of exasperation, the younger man said "Don't you mean I take one shot after you pass it under the table and then I proceed to walk you home after you've drank enough to be blabbering on the floor in a drunken stupor?"
"Yes, but this way I can celebrate with you one more time before you leave." Qrow replied. "It's gonna be weird not having a drinking buddy afterwards, you know?"
"Isn't that what Specialist Schnee is for?"
"Not exactly…"